


Years Underground

by LegacyWorks



Series: Never Yeilding [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged up Aang, All characters should be named Bumi, Avatar Azula (Avatar), Gen, Spirit World Nonsense, prison guards suck, prisoner Aang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29526699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegacyWorks/pseuds/LegacyWorks
Summary: Aang spends a few years in prison under the Fire Nation Palace. They're not all terrible.
Relationships: Aang & Azula (Avatar), Aang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Never Yeilding [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2169165
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	Years Underground

Aang doesn’t eat meat.

That hasn’t changed the entire time he’s been here, and it won’t change even if they start sending only meat dishes.

Which might be what this guard is trying to do, because she just keeps bringing more and more meat when she comes.

“Oi! Dinner.” She sets the plate down with a clunk before slamming the door shut. 

Hate is not something that Aang takes lightly. To hate someone is to condemn them, to decide that they aren’t worth helping. Hating people shouldn’t happen if there is any hope of becoming friends or even just existing around the other person.

Aang hates this guard.

He hates this guard because the smell of that meat is going to stay in the room for days. He hates the guard because after a couple days of staying out, the meat starts to attract things. He hates the guard because she finds so much joy in this.

Then there’s guards that he doesn't hate. 

The younger one is nice. He never brings meat, and there’s normally a bit extra water compared to others. And he’ll stay and chat for a few moments, if there isn’t something else that he desperately has to do.

They’re about the same age.

He tells Aang stories about the terrifying Princess Azula, the metaphorical fires that she starts and the literal ones. She keeps freaking out her masters, beating them, and making them quit, which makes Aang laugh.

All Azula said was that they were too useless and left when they couldn’t teach her anything.

He also hears about little Prince Zuko, always by his mother or sister’s side, who never leaves his room to wander around. Whereas people never know where Azula is, assuming she’s even in the palace, Zuko is always reliably easy to locate. 

The guard talks wistfully about being able to hang around one place for so long, contemplating what Zuko does all day. He probably doesn’t know about the constant worksheets and planning that’s required of the little Prince, but Aang isn’t going to be the one to tell him. Daydreaming about reading books and eating snacks is nice enough.

The guard already has a kid at home, so any down time is a blessing. His parents have been taking care of the little one while him and his wife work. She’s a seamstress and the guard never shuts up about how amazing her stitching and designs are. 

He’s always talking.

It helps fill the silent stones.

…

Aang paces around his small cell. He’s technically the Avatar. Basically. Except he can’t even bend air anymore. And it’s not like he ever really _felt_ like the Avatar before. He hadn’t even managed to bend the other three elements before he got captured!

And now his bending is entirely gone. So that should mean he isn’t the Avatar anymore, even if he ever was.

So there should be a new Avatar out there?

Somewhere. Maybe.

If there is, it has to be a waterbender to complete the cycle. Air, water, earth, fire. In that order, always, just like the Monks taught him.

They never told him he was the Avatar, though, not until later. 

And then they died. Or he died. Disappeared? Was a statue for however many years.

He doesn't like to think about that.

But there’s probably a new Avatar now. And that new Avatar will always be running from the Fire Nation, always, and Aang will be killed when the Fire Nation learns he’s not the Avatar.

It goes against everything he thought he knew, of course. Unless they were just wrong, like how they were wrong with Avatar Kyoshi. Mistaken identity, selecting the wrong person. 

But there should still be an Avatar somewhere, even if it was never Aang.

Of course, Aang’s bending did disappear after he fought Ozai.

He can’t even remember the fight, only passing out and waking up in a cell.

Aang’s mind briefly flashes to Fon, the Earth Kingdom boy that he ran into and traveled through the woods with. Fon’s probably safe, right? With Appa? 

Oh, _Appa_! Did all the sky bison die with the Monks? 

Aang starts to slip, floating around inside his head.

Well. He can’t do anything about it now, there’s no reason to care.

The aching hole clawing its way deeper into his heart says otherwise.

… 

“AAAAAH!” Aang jumps awake, staring into the fiery eyes of his visitor.

“Calm down, I didn’t do anything.” Azula says back. Her voice is annoyed, but the grin on her lips says otherwise. 

“You can’t just do that, I’m getting old!” His bones crack all the time, just like Gyatsos did! Though, he might not be that old yet. Zuko isn’t an adult. He first met that kid when he was so small! And sure, Zuko’s still small, but he isn’t that small. 

Time is weird. And relative. And Zuko’s never allowed to grow up. Aang won’t allow it!

“No, you aren’t!” Azula blurts out, then covers her mouth. “You aren’t that old yet, even if you’re weak.” Awww, she does care!

“Oh no, I think my heart’s failing! Azula, call for help! Ah,” he tips over onto the ground, clutching his chest dramatically. Very faintly he can hear a snort from the other side of the bars. Score! He reaches for the small flame coming from her palm. “Ah, the light! I’m going to the light!”

“No you aren’t, idiot. Don’t touch, it’ll burn!” She moves the flame away and Aang falls back onto the floor.

“Ah, then I guess I’ll stay here, then. Goodbye, sweet Spirit World. I’ll visit you tonight.” Aang doesn’t mention the snort that sounded again. He kicks his feet up the wall, turning his body perpendicular. Looking to the right at Azula, he smiles again. “Did you find any water rabbits? With your friends?”

“They’re not my friends. Kinda. But no, they weren’t out. Ty Lee wouldn’t stop complaining the entire time.”

“Aww, that sucks. You could have caught on! And then brought it to me! Don’t you want me to have another friend?” He pouts, making his eyes big and sad. The gaunt lines of his face really help the pathetic expression. Azula just raises her eyebrow.

“Why would you befriend a water rabbit?”

“Because they’re cute! And fluffy! And I’ve never seen one before!”

“Then how do you know it’s cute?”

“I just do!” 

“Idiot.” Aang doesn't have to look over to see the smile in her voice. 

“Good job searching with them, though. I bet Ty Lee liked that.”

“Yeah. She’s boring like that. I mean, it’s such a waste of time. What would we even do with a water rabbit? They’re so boring! They just swim around and eat lotus.”

“Ah, but did you make a game out of it?”

“Why would I do that.”

“Oh, you know. Training.” Aang smiles, big and bright, as Azula’s ears perk up. Her eyes burn brighter again. She always loves hearing new ways to improve.

“How.” She demands. Aang almost coos.

“See, back at the air temple, there were these flying lemurs everywhere. And I mean everywhere! And I mean, sometimes they would get into places they shouldn’t. Like the kitchens or the bathrooms. One time it even got into the nursery after one of the monks helped deliver twins! That was bad. I mean, it was _really_ bad. There was so much screaming and the monks kept telling us to get out but they also wanted us to catch the lemur!” Aang shivers at the memory. That day came out with far too many broken chairs, broken bones, and extra meditation as punishment for losing their cool.

“Anyway,” he continues, “if you try chasing down an animal, _especially_ in that animal’s territory? You’ll really learn how to run! And duck! And grab things while trying to make sure no one else can get it! So like, it’s really, really fun and you still get to train! Isn’t that great?” He’s grinning so very wide, energy pouring off him. Azula’s eyes are wide with possibilities and her smile sharpens it’s points.

Aang suppresses a shiver when her eyes start to narrow.

“That sounds perfect.”

…

“Did you get the water rabbit?”

Azula doesn’t answer.

…

Aang doesn’t think the sun in the Spirit World is quite like the one he’s used to. It doesn’t feel warm. That could be because he doesn't have a body here, of course. But he can still feel his fingertips brushing over bright red leaves, so he can feel things just fine.

Mysteries for another day.

It doesn’t feel the same, but it definitely beats staying in the darkness of his cell.

Bumi floats on over right once he steps foot across the river, energetically pushing his liquid fur against Aang’s non-existent body.

“Bumi!” He laughs, scritching under Bumi’s chin. “How you been, buddy?” The spirit jumps around the air, landing on Aang’s head. “Ahaha, then let’s get going!” The two run off into the forest, Bumi pulling at Aang’s hair to guide him this way and that. They find a tree covered in shifting blue fruit with flecks of gold at the bottom. Bumi jumps back into the air to sniff at the tree, moving from one fruit to another until he finds the perfect one.

He hops back to where Aang is waiting at the ground, latching onto Aang’s shirt and fluttering his wings as hard as possible to lift the young man up. 

It doesn’t work.

Aang’s incorporeal body is still too large for the small spirit. Instead he jumps up, reaching his tiptoes and trying to force his spirit into the sky.

It doesn’t work, nor does his bending, but that’s never stopped him from trying before!

“Come…. On!” Bumi snickers at him with airy breath, which just encourages Aang to keep trying. Even if he never manages, at least Bumi got a laugh out of it.

Bumi drifts over to the trunk, resting on one of the outreaching mushroom plumes that pass as branches. He avoids the green, though. It took a while, but Aang learned that green growth tends to be poisonous to spirits, and they make sure to avoid the color entirely.

“Hey! That gives me an idea!” Aang launches himself onto the lowest mushroom, bouncing higher and higher up the trunk with each light footstep. It isn’t exactly like his airbending, but the feeling of flight is close enough to hit a pang in his heart.

He’ll be fine.

One last bounce and he reaches his arm out as far as it can go, snatching the bright blue and gold fruit.

Only to hang there with his weightless body pulling at the small but sturdy fruit.

“Uh.”

Bumi snickers again.

…

It’s pitch black when he leaves the spirit world. Aang starts circling his breath to get rid of the cold, just like Monk Gyatso told him.

It helps.

…

The guard, the younger nice one, brings a hair tie this time. Aang doesn’t know how to express his thanks other than becoming a sputtering mess, so that’s what happens.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” He holds the band delicately in his fingers, sniffling as his eyes water. “I love it.” He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand before pulling his still growing mat of hair back. The strands kept tickling his face as it grew. Sometimes that didn’t bother him, but other times. Well.

It was a reminder.

He wasn’t allowed to have a razor or anything to get rid of the thick black growing on his scalp, not when it first started poking up, not when it already reached his waist. No one comes to cut it either. Or to wash it.

This little band is a blessing.

The guard laughs. “You’re welcome,” his smile brightens the room. It’s like Zuko’s smile when Aang praises him.

He’d probably get along really well with Zuko, but it would be bad if they met. Zuko would get in trouble, probably, and the guard wouldn’t be allowed to come back.

…

“Can you eat in the spirit world?” Comes the innocent question from the not-so-innocent child. Her eyes are turned upward at him, the sharpness barely showing through. She’s gotten much better at hiding it when he wants to, but Aang’s gotten much better at reading her. 

“Well,” he doesn’t know what answer she’s looking for, or even why she’s asking the question. “Kinda? I mean, not really. It doesn't change anything while I’m living here, like. My body doesn’t change. I can put things in my mouth and chew, though?”

“Does it change anything with your energy? It must, since things in the spirit world are still made out of energy. It should still be like fuel, right?” Aang blinks a couple of times. Could it? A spirit eating spirit fruit must have a reason to be eating it.

“Maybe?”

“So if you ate a lot of the spirit food your bending would get stronger, right?” Aang has to take a moment to actually think. It isn’t something he’s thought about, not since he lost his bending, but Azula is learning how to meditate. At some point she might be able to join him in the Spirit World.

Her fire bending could get stronger if she eats some of the food.

“You could try it out, when you make it over, but the food tastes weird.” Aang grimaced at the thought. Sure, his taste buds still exist in his body, not his spirit, but that doesn’t seem to change anything when it comes to the grossness of some of the foods Bumi brings him. 

Some things just taste like clouds. Those are the easiest things to chew on without freaking out his mouth. Others like fuzzy yellow, neither of which should be a taste. The time he tasted firebending. As in, he could feel himself move through the motions and emit fire from his body without moving, and his tongue just knew what it felt like. Only as a taste. Aang swore to stop eating whatever Bumi brought because there was no way he could handle that onslaught of feelings over a small bite of green, twisting vine juice. 

Bumi never showed where he found that strange fruit-like object. 

“But if it makes you stronger, shouldn’t you still eat it?” Aang scrunches his nose again. Maybe she’d like to try the vine thing. He can’t bring it back, but that might be enough of a taste to scare her off from any of the others.

He never wants to taste an eagle-dog's newborn babies as they chow down with sharp canines on squirrel-monkeys. Never again.

How did that even happen when he ate what looked like a purple leaf? It’s the spirit world. And somehow that’s what logic is.

… 

Watching people while he wasn’t technically in the room was strange. Very strange. Like, it kinda feels stalkery, but at the same time it’s one of the few things making him actually want to exist in the world? So, you know, mixed feelings about the entire thing.

He never did anything that was too creepy!

Not like, watching people change or reading over their shoulder, or even staring at them for too long! He just wandered the halls a little, or would poke people in the face when they weren’t even able to notice! Small things like that.

And okay, maybe he tried haunting Ozai a little. But who could blame him? It’s not like he could actually move any objects. He isn’t technically a spirit! Or dead! He just. Well. Left his body for the time being. 

Easy, and nothing magical or mystical about it!

Ghosts are actually spooky scary, but Aang’s just your average friendly astral projection. None of the weird wibbly wobbly arm movements or strange flying ability even though humans can’t fly. None of that!

And sure, maybe he enjoyed it a tad too much when he almost got someone to notice him by waving in front of their faces. And maybe he took a bit of extra glee when doing that to Azula since she sometimes seemed like she was reacting to _him_ instead of whatever must be happening behind him. 

But that’s just normal when life is so boring that he literally has to leave his body to do _anything_ fun.

Bumi would find it hilarious. Either of them.

He never would have guessed just how much Zuko read or studied or planned. It’s a lot. And Azula, though she trained more than was probably healthy. None of it was even fun training! Even though he gave her so many ideas! It was all serious and strict and muscles and having teachers that kept showing you what to do instead of just making up a game and seeing what you came up with.

The Fire Nation was so boring now. What happened to the times when Ruohan would run around chasing fire ferrets, or blasting himself upward into trees and accidentally setting them on fire? Those were fun times! Or when his sister blasted a giant ball of flames enough that it heated the entire lake so they could take a bath?

Or! When they played tag in the sky, shooting flames from their hands and feet! And Aang chased after them with his air, even though they could have burned the glider if he wasn’t careful.

Or when they took care to make small bug-sized flames drift around the air, and then saw who could have more while Aang blew them around in circles at faster and faster speeds until the house caught on fire and Monk Gyatso had to put it out by removing all the air from the surroundings. 

Good times.

Azula and Zuko do none of that! And there’s no other kids around to see what they’re doing to play with their bending, so how should Aang figure out what kids are up to nowadays?

He’s an old man, after all.

God, being 23 is exhausting.


End file.
